One dead, one injured after early morning crash in Caribou

CARIBOU, Maine — One man is dead and another is in a Bangor hospital with critical injuries after an early morning accident in Caribou.

The accident that killed Wayne Carter, 36, of Caribou took place just after 4 a.m., Caribou police said Monday.

Carter was southbound on River Road in his 2007 Volkswagen Rabbit when the vehicle left the roadway and rolled over. Police said Carter was driving “at a high rate of speed.”

Carter and passenger Patrick Strainge, 21, of Stockholm were ejected from the vehicle. They were not wearing seat belts.

A third passenger, 19-year-old Shawn Holmquist of Caribou, was wearing his seat belt at the time of the accident and suffered only minor injuries.

Carter was dead at the scene. Strainge was taken by Caribou Fire and Ambulance to Cary Medical Center and then flown to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor with extensive injuries. Holmquist was treated at the scene.

The accident remains under investigation, but police said Monday that speed and the driver’s and passenger’s decisions not to wear seat belts were major factors in the outcome of the crash.